Never-before-seen Texas works part of new season

By Taylor Mayad

From centuries-old Southeast Asian textile traditions and contemporary Japanese bamboo sculpture to New Deal-era works and immersive installations, the Crow Museum of Asian Art’s fall exhibition season explores history, material culture and storytelling across generations and geographies.

Headlining the season are two major exhibitions opening at the Crow Museum’s Dallas Arts District and UT Dallas locations. Both drawn from significant private collections, Unseen Worlds: Southeast Asian Textiles from the Spancake Collection (August 22-June 20, 2027) debuts at the UT Dallas campus location, featuring approximately 150 objects from Houston-based collectors Jenny and Steve Spancake. Unseen Worlds marks the first solo exhibition dedicated to the Spancake Collection.

Opening at the Dallas Arts District location, Twisted, Plaited, Sculpted: Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation (November 7-Oct. 31, 2027) showcases the intricate craftsmanship and artistic innovation of Japanese bamboo art through nearly two dozen works, including those by Living National Treasures Fujinuma Noboru and Fujitsuka Shosei. This is the museum’s first collaboration with the Dallas-based Thoma Foundation. Accompanying the exhibition is a large-scale woven-cane sculpture and video installation by Mumbai-based artist Shakuntala Kulkarni. Making her U.S. debut, the presentation complements the bamboo works through shared explorations of nature and transformation. 

Other fall exhibition highlights include a floor-to-ceiling multimedia experience at the UT Dallas campus that examines the cultural and political history of salt through reimagined storytelling. Additionally, the campus museum will showcase the third collaboration between UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art displaying many never-before-seen Texas works created during the New Deal era.

The Crow Museum of Asian Art operates two locations in the Dallas Arts District (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201) and on the UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080). Both museums are open Tuesdays-Sundays (11 a.m.-5 p.m.) and closed on Mondays. Admission is free. 

For more information, visit crowmuseum.org or call 214-979-6430.

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